Coin freed substation for automatic telephone systems



y 1935- E. WEHREN I 2,000,804

COIN FREED SUBSTATION FOR AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYSTEMS 7 Filed Dec. 16, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 N bl? 19375; E. .WEHREN 2,000,804

COIN FREED SUBSTATION FOR AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYSTEMS Filed Dec. 16, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 NveA/Tb y 1935. E. WEHREN 2,000,804

COIN FREED SUBSTATION FOR AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYSTEMS Filed Dec. 16, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet l arrangementstake up a great space which jis- 'control'the inserted coins and tdobserve .thecor- ''also a disadvantage? Patented May 7,

; vmwSTATES H com FREED SUBSTATION FOR AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYSTEMS g Ernst WehrenfBern, Sw tzerla d j j Application December 16,'1032,'"Serial Hui 647,681 N v I In Germany December 13,1931 j m. (Cline- 6.3f i

inserted coins and the" fnuznerals" selected, how- 7 fever,j is g eneral1y made' at the central offices; A great number of selectorsandrela'ys are needed there forthis purposejraisingjnotonly the purchase costs of the wholesystem; but endangering also the reliability of the communications. "1 --Those with the Present nre n auappaata to respondence between the amount of the communication' charge and; the insertedgcoins are located at the substation itself; "ThiSQsystem re"-1 j quires an additional arrangement in the central oflice consisting of six relays by means of which.

the collecting impulse isgiven and the connec tion is opened after the fixed-time'unitoi a call has-expired." The espective'circuits will be hereinafter described. f I v The invention consists inia coin freed sub- 7 station for automatictelephone systems in which the correspondence.betweenthecosts of the call and the charge paid by inserting coins at the substatio'nis controlled by a'coin counting device operated'step by step, characterizedgby the feature that the contacts of 'saidcoin counting'de vicestare connected with the contact" banks of selectors which are at least partly connected in series and may be adjusted by thenumeraljdial. In' proportion to the amount of numerals necessary to characterizefthe connntmications, a

" zone marking apparatus compcsed of a' correspending vnumber of 'selectors will' be provided, said'selectors being coupled mechanically or electrically with the numeraldial during the'selection of the communication. The contacts of" said selectors "are mutually connected and alsowith the contacts of a coin counting device consisting of a step by stepselectonfTn order to establish the communication, a circuit must be closedover the contactor the counting device, which contact corresponds with the selected subscribers tiohwill not be established.

use. If thiscircuit is not closed, acommunicaw "thece'ntral oifice, and s v a o Figure 7 is a diagram "of a "second'foifm in jnected with'the numeral dial. 1

' A iurther: advantage of the automatic tele+ phone substation according tothe invention con-' sists in the possibility to add'a simple arrangement by means or which the calling subscriber may be informed in time of the amount duefor the'communication' wanted. misinformation is absolutely automatic and may be givenwithout :the aidof anyfoperator. 5

So far asmanual long; distance omces mes a "cerned 'whe'rejthe establishment of the oom- "munication is; finally done by'an': operator after OFFICE she has controlled the inserted coins; thecalling subscriber has nothing especiallyto doabout Qthe determination ofthe charge due, the latter being communicated to him orally. But in suchv cases where the operator is replaced by automatic arfrangements, the calling subscriber usually'has to search in indexes which must be madeup tor every 'exchanga These indexes or registers are the causes ofmanjmistakes'z",

With the above-mentioned additional arrange 'ment,'all searches in inde resmay be avoided for the calling subscriben' to theiaccompanying'drawings, in whic h:

Further; advantages and obj ectswflfappear v the following specification, reference being] had Figurel'shows ageneralarrangement, Figures 2; 3, 4 and 5 are difierent views'and def .tails 'ofw a} iorrnpf exe'outionof a mechanical coupling between the selectors of 'themarkingfcir "cuit and the mimeral dial of thetelephone e f e,* a .7 Figure 6 shows the additional arrangement in which the marking selectors,are'electricallylconf V 'T hesystem by means of which theil'rst of the present invention will be explained is based on' at telephone networkiiin which the; numbers 200.000 t0899.000 are designated forlocallcom" munications or'suburb "communications having the same tax as local calls; The number'SEQIO' OOO a to 939.999 are used for the more distant communications, say; for calls with subscribersofthe outer network. 'l orlongdistance calls the characteristic numeral 0'has to be chosen. 'I'he'tarifl charge may be paid in amountsof '20, 30, 50,"'Z0,-; '90 and 120 cents and with all kinds of coins. f For' this purpose, the coinsare inserted in diiferent channels; as, for instance, Ka in Figure 1', corre-. spondinggto' their value. After having. passed" through a coin examining device of any known. 7 type (not shown) the coins will operatedevice's or known construction and which has beerfshown f in the drawings only diagrammatically such construction causing the pawl lever KKI to rotate the selector arm Med. for so many steps as there are tens in the inserted coin, i. e. when a 50 cent piece has been inserted, the pawl of the coin counting device will bring the arm Mac on the contact designated with 5|! of the contact row of the counting device. For a local communication, the calling subscriber has for instance, to insert two 10 cent pieces which brings the arm Mza. on the contact designated with 20, whereupon the subscriber will select the wanted number of the list of local subscribers, The numeral dial of the substation is, according 'to the example shown in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5, mechanically connected with three selectors, the arms of which may be adjusted independently and one after the other in always the same "sequence. The first selected numeral causes the adjustment of the zone marking device mm, the second numeral of Zm and the third numeral of Zm The number of contactsof each selector corresponds with the one of the numeral dial, i. e. here two ten contacts are provided. The arms of the selectors are held fast after each selecting movement and are brought back by means of a spring when'the call is ended. v 1 f Y By'selecting for instance the numeral 2 the first arm Za of the. zone marking selector Zm is broughton the second contact thus laying. a positive potential on contact'zil of the coin counting device M2 by means of the connection lead I0 I Because the inserted 20 cent piece has caused the arm Mac to be brought on the same contact 20 the circuit for relay K will be closed and the communication will be established. The selecting 0f further numerals will remain without influence on the described arrangements because there is no connection between the contacts 2 to 8 of selector Zm and the arms of the other selectors. By selecting the fourth numeral. contact IV (Fig- 'ure 1) will be closed in a manner tobe later described which means that the circuit ofthe disconnecting relay T cannot be opened and the line "of the call cannot be disconnected. The further selecting operation is registered as usual by the apparatus of the central station.

If the calling subscriber wants, for example, a subscriber of the 50 cent zone, he has to select for the three first numerals for instance the characteristic number. 925, in accordancewith the distribution 'of the above specified example. Dur ing this operation, the armof the zone marking 'deviceZm will be set on its contact 9 and remains there during the whole call. Thus,.the positive potential of Zm is transmitted to the second arm Za. of the zone marking device. When the second characteristic numeral 2 is selected, both arms ofselector Zm are brought 'on. their second contact. The second arm Za of Zm is connected withthe second arm Zot of the marking device Zm and according to the .third numeral bringing the latter arm on I, 3 or 14 to 9 the positive potential is transmitted to the contact 30 of the coin counting device Me or to its'oontact 50. After inserting of the. correct amount of money the arm Mza of the counting device is brought on the corresponding contact and the communication will be established as stated above.

The contacts 10, and l 20 of the coin counting device can be reached over the first arm of the zone marking selector Zm which is electrically connected with the 0 contact of the zone marking .sel t0r. m I

It may be seen from the diagram shown in Figure 1, that it is not absolutely necessary to adjust the coin counting device by inserting the necessary amount of money before the selecting operation. It is early enough when the coins are inserted between the selection of the third and fourth numeral, because only after the selection of the latter one contact IV is closed. This circumstance may be used to inform the calling subscriber automatically of the amount to be pair after having dialed the characteristic numerals of the wanted number.

The arrangement shown in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 will beexplained in the following passages. Figure 2 isa side elevation, Figure 3 a lateral view, and Figures 4 and 5 are details of this mechanism. The general shaft of all rotative parts of the arrangement is designated with a. It is supported by several bearings b and is rigidly connected with the numeral dial 0. Between the different bearings the contact rows represented in Figure 1 r of the selectors Zm Zm and Zm serving as zone marking deviceswith one, two and five contact arms Za Zen and zaa not shown in this Figure 2, are arranged... These contact arms are all provided with the necessary insulation and connection leads and are mounted on a hollow shaft b They have for each selector a finger d by means of which one selector at the time may be coupledwith the numeral dial.

v For this purpose two drivers or arms e are fixed on the shaft a., Theseiarms e' carry a rotatably mounted arbor on which, four hooks g are fixed, corresponding with the fingers; d of the selectors 2 m, 2 m and 2 m and the fourth finger of the switch IV. (see Figure 5.) The hooks g or the arbor can thus only be moved all together. These hooks are exactly adjusted and lie in the same plane of the fingers. d co-operating with them. 1

' The fingers d have not the same length, which may be seen in Figure 4 where they are numbered I, II, III and IV. It is evident that all other hooks 'gwill notco-op'erate with the fingers d II, II and IV when the first hook g is in engagement with the finger 111. When the first numeral is selected by operating the numeral dial the arm Za of the selector 2 m (see Figure 1) only will be adjusted and the other selectors remain in their position of rest. After the first selector is adjusted and held fast by its corresponding stop' pawl h and the numeral dial has returned in its position ofv rest during which return it has operated its impulse contact, the second operation of the dial when selecting the second numeral will cause the adjustingof arms Z11 of selector Z m- This has become possible because the hooks 9 have advanced for one step by means of the springs 11, so that now the second hook g is in engagement with the finger (111 and the fingers (11, III and IV are free from theirv respective hooks. After the second selector Z m is adjusted, the third selector. Z3m is adjusted. When the fourth numeral is selected, contact IV will be closed for the time of the call by the last hook g (see Figure 5). This contact IV is latched in a way, not shown, by the last stop pawl 71.

The holding pawls h are controlled by a rod 1' which is operated by a mechanism of the hook switchso that when the telephone receiver is hung up all pawls h are. disengaged and all selectors return in their position of rest.

The described coin freed telephone substation may be connected with the central station by means of the usualoutfit of the subscriber station according to the. respective The collecting of the coins must of course bedoneby an additional device and in different ways if a.

local "communication oI:un1imited duration or if a communication with a netgroup subscriber which is to be disconnected after three minutes isto be dealt with. Such additional device for the above stated purpose is schematically shown in Figure 6. I

The arrangements or the subscribers stations are separated from those of the central oflice conditions are determined by the system of the central station and are not necessary tor the operation of the subscriberssubstation,

The counting relay Z registeringthe number i of tax units which are collected by the exchange.

The other relays of the central exchange will be mentioned while describing the functions of the arrangement. I I I The hook switch EU is provided with a retarding. device so that'the hooking on of the telephone does not cause the immediate connection 01 the alarm. W. The hooking off instead causes the'instantaneous switching on of the microphone Min the feeding circuit of the :battery 01' the central oflice." By this operation the relay U at the stationis excited. i

The switch contact u" is shifted'and the back contact u is opened. The relay C is excitedhereupon by the central ofiice in a way; not'shown,

and closes its circuit contacts and c. This causes the closing of the circuit for relay X: 1

Battery, relay X, contacts 0 and Z2, ground.

Contact 1: opens and contacts 3:? anda': close.

When a local communication is to be dealt with, relay U is deg-energized at the end "otthe call and the counting relay Z receives current from the central off ce. Relay Z? is excited over contact a and keeps itselt energized over'the conjtactsc and 2 Batte nre ay c nta s a nd r u d. Contact Zc closes the circuitfor relay K1: I

e r'y. co tacts 22C nd und- I By means-of the two switch contacts Kjl the collecting relay K being in bridge..connec-'- tion is excited.

Contacts KI and K11, leads a and b of the communication line, both windings of relay K.

and its'condensers, ground. The latter operates the collectingdevice of the subscribers? station; At the same time. the

call counting relay Z is excited by the usual relays or the central oflice over leadd, contact a relay Z and ground.

After the counting operation. the relays Z and Care dye-energized by the usual relay combie nations at the central office. I

'11. a netgroup communication only prepared. The connecting operations are the following? I Relays U and C are excitecl as already set I to be: dealt with, the counting operation takes place at the beginning of thecall. The collecting operation is I I 3 Iorth andtheir contacts are operated. 'By: means of contact. c 'relay X is excited. v v

As soon'asthe called subscriber answers, th counting operation is .initiatedbyuthe arrangements at the central ofllce and relay Z andthe counting relay Z is excited. Contact Zlawill excite relay Z. ,The latter holds itself by means of the circuit: z r 1 Battery, relay 2?, contacts zieand c ,.gr.eund. Relay: K cannot be excitedbecausecontactu? is in its working (left) position. IOn thelothcr hand, the circuit of relay K is prepared by -c on'e tact 22. BecauseZZ has opened thecircuit of time relay X the latter willhold itself only during the durationofi'the counting impulses com- II ing from the central'station:

Battery, relay X, contacts .19 and Zl .ground.'

, Relay.X is. therefore :agretarded timerelay,

This relay will be deeenergizedassoon as, relay Z comesitorest and 4 contact Z I will remain. open.

The circuit ofrelay K f will be prepared by con-. tact r and the counting device Z will be dis-.

connected by contact are." latter, operation avoids the counting impulses. of; the second call.

unit operating .the counting device-Z because the communication'is towbe disconnected after three minutes. 7 I The disconnection is efiected by ,contact z li which closes thecircuit of relay K alreadywith the first counting impulse:

Batterygrelay K ground. I g l Now, relay K will send thecollecting impulses contacts 222. 5% "Zi Q,

over the a-gb line and collecting relay K will be I energized. Atthe same timethe call line will be opened by the contacts Kl and Kl andthe communication is disconnected;

The. described telephone exchangefis' provided 1 with an arrangement which informs the calling subscriber ofthe amount due whenthe'respec tive characteristic numeral or numeralsis or' are selected. The contact rows of the selectors 2121.

Em nd m ur 1 r onn ed. ith

amp L an n n he axio e aid- If a local communication is wanted,

or 0 cents s es 9- Th diu emrq r as other selector arms remainsjwithout influence upon the other signalling lamps. I 5

if the calling subscriber has selectedthe m meral 0 or 9, cor in o a c -;di mero an outer network call, onexof the. arms Za will will cause the transmission of they potential to one of the lamps for 30 or. cents; II J 'For the 'secondform of execution shown in Fig ure' 7,.a network has been chosen in which the three. first numerals of. eachsubscriber number are characteristic numerals.- The subscribers directly connected withthecentral office'have the numbers 200:000 to 899.999. The outer network subscriber'shave the numbers 910.000 to" 939.999. For'lon'g distance calls 0 has to be selected as first I characteristic numeral.

iheam Zq comes to standon contact 2 and the lamp receive a potential which will-cause the lamp for or cents to flash. up or one of the arms ,Za after thesele'ctingof. the third numeral For the determination oi'the taxes and to con:

connectedin series and 'each p'rovidedflwith" an automatic retum mechanism are utilized, the

wi h ts ..ZM 1a-nd Z M oi'saidis l w I tors being operated one afterthe otherby rrjie'ans r, impulses emitted byahf mpu fic ela J 2171a ama. b e aebiflie some e I "trolthe amount of inserted coius',fthree selectors i sponding with the one represented in Figure 1.

the same parts being provided with the same signs of reference as in said figure.

The proceedings are as follows:

When the calling subscriber removes his receiver, besides the usual circuits to the central station, animpulse emitting circuit receiving the selection impulses is closed over the impulse relay JR which attracts its armature and energizes over its switch contact, the slow-acting relay VR and the selection ofthe number can begin.

When the impulse relay JR attracted its armature, the selector ZM has been prepared to receive the impulses because the positive pole'of the battery has been connected with the selector magnet ZM over the switch contact of relay JR and switch contact of the switchrelay UB As scenes the calling subscriber selects the first numeral, the impulse relay JR will, during the return of the numeral dial, be de-energized as When the slow-acting relay V13. attracts its armature the relay JZR will be energized over the lowest contact of relay JZR After the selection of the first numeral the impulse relay JR will be energized for a longer period so thatrelay VR. will drop its armature; causing relayJZR. to be energized over the lowest contact of relay JZR this relay having created for'itself a maintenance circuit comprising its resistance, its upper winding, its upper contact and the middle contact of relay VR 7 Relay J 2R puts switch relay UR in circuit by means of its own switch contact. This relay UR attracts its'armature, closes a maintenance circuit for the selector magnet ZM andtransmits the impulse emitting current over its lowest contact and the switch contact of relay UK. to the selectormagnet ZM When the calling subscriber selects the second numeral, the impulse relay JR drops its armature according to the intervals between impulses. The slow-acting relay'VFt will be energized, so that the still excited relay JZR, will be de-energized by short-circuiting-its maintenance circuit over the two upper contacts of relay VB. and selector .ZA is adjusted by its magnet ZM After the series of impulses emitted after the selection-oi circuit of relay J ZR Relay JZlR. thus drops its armature also. r

When the armature of JZR drops off, the switch relav UB is put in circuit which relav closes a ma intenancecircuitfor theselector magnet ZM over itssecond contact from the top and closes the impulse'em'itting circuitfor selector has selected first of all the numeral 9.

magnet 2M and 'tht latter goes in its working position.

As soon as the calling subscriber begins with the third impulse series by. dialing, the third numeral impulse relay JR accordingly becomes deholding relay HR is energized over the switch contact of J ZR and the uppermost contact of DB whereupon HR closes a maintenance circuit for selector 2M over its uppermost contact.

When the calling subscriber dials the fourth numeral, the relay JZR will be deenergized in the same manner than by the dialing of the second numeral; The closing of the uppermost contact of relay JZR, will complete the circuitover the middle contact of relay .HR for relay HR which will close the contact IV (uppermost contact of relay HR By the continual closing of its uppermost contact the relay HR being held over its lower contact will cause a further working of relay JR (by the dialing of the other numerals) remaining without effect.

The arm ZA of selector 2M is connected with the positive pole of the battery. Its contact row is, the contacts LB and 0 excepted, connected with the lamp for twenty cents. The result is that when, for instance, the calling subscriber wants to have a communication with asubscriber which is directly connected with the main office the lamp for twenty cents'will flash up already after the selection of the first numeral. The adjusting of the arms ZA and ZA remains without further influence.

If the calling subscriber wants a long distance call he has selected, first of all the numeral 0. The arm ZA has been adjusted accordingly and has connected the first arm of ZA with the positive pole'of the battery. After the further selection this second arm ZA comes to rest on contacts I, 2 or 3 which are directly connected with thelamps for 120, and 70 cents. At the end of the second series of impulses the calling subscriber already knew about the'tax to be paid.

. The third series of impulses has caused also the adjustment of arm 'ZA but without any lamp being influenced because the second arm 2A of selector ZM is connected with contact 9 of selector 2M If the calling subscriber Wanted a communication with a subscriber or the outer network he By this selection the second arm ZA of selector ZM has been connected with the positive pole of the battery. According to the second numeral this potential has been transmitted to the one or the other of. the arms of the selector 2M which causes the flashingup of the lamps for 50 or 30 cents respectively in accordance with the series of impulses emitted.

The above description concerns principally the arrangements for indicating the amount to be paid; The further apparatus shown as, for instance, the coin counting device MZ and the selectors connected with this device are exactly the same as those shown in and explained in connection with Figure 1. The description of these parts therefore is unnecessary.

What I claim is:

1. A coin freed substation forautomatic telephone systems comprisinga numeral dial, selectors having contact banks, a coin counting device operated step by step including contacts connected with the contact banks of said selectors which contact banks are at least partly'connected in series and adjustable by the numeral dial. a 2. A coin freed substation for automatic telephone systems as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the selectors are mechanically coupled one after the other with the numeral dial. a

3. A coinfreed substation as claimed in claim 1 characterizedvby the provision of a relay and devices, the selector arms being adjustable by means of said relay influenced by the selecting impulses of the numeraldial and said devices controlling the subsequent operation of the selectors.

(l. A coin freed substation as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the selector arms are adjusted in a predetermined sequence and according to the subsequent operations of the numeral dial and brought on the contacts corresponding with the numerals of the-selected number.

5; A coin freed substation as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the selector arms are adjusted in a predetermined sequence and accord ing to the subsequent operations of the numeral t dial and brought on the contacts corresponding with the numerals of the selected number, said selectors being arranged on the arbor of the 'nu-' L I 'meral dial and the selector armsbeingtakengcharge corresponding with the characteristic numeral or numerals selected. v

'7. A coin freed substation as claimed in' claim 1, characterized by the provision of a device conv trolled by the numeral dial to announce "the charge corresponding with the characteristic numeral or numerals selected,said announcing device being controlled by the selectors adjusted by the numeral dial. 1

' ERNST WEI-IREN; 

